Company Blog

Words Matter

by Adam Zack — December 27, 2023

“Working together to nourish our community, our families and each other.”

On Christmas night after everyone went to bed, including the dog, I sat at the dining room table of my daughter’s house in Los Angeles talking with her husband Morgan. Ever since he asked my permission to propose to her about nine years ago, as we stayed up late talking and drinking Cognac, we have kind of made it a tradition every time we get together. We stay up when everyone else has turned it, talking about everything from family, politics, sports, and especially business. Monday night as we sat there talking (and drinking Amaro, not cognac) we veered to the subject of intentionality, and how important it is to a business’ success. I told him the story of the creation of my grocery store in San Diego’s Vision Statement, and how every single word in it had meaning and intention. It was a process that involved our Leadership Coach John Wood (https://www.lovingpower.com) and three members of our senior management team. We went through dozens of iterations over about six months, finally agreeing on one that we thought was powerful, showed what we strive to be every day, and most importantly, had clear intention.

Working together to nourish our community, our families and each other.

-Jensen’s Foods, San Diego, Vision Statement

I hadn’t discussed it in such detail before, and he was clearly very interested and moved by it. I explained it to him something like this:

Working together – Not just employees at work at the same location, but true teamwork.

To nourish – Not just feeding customers through the sale of food, but enhancing their lives with quality ingredients, caring service and a commitment to their well-being.

Our community – From day one our goal has been to be such an intentional partner and neighbor that they will never want us to leave and will support us with their patronage and kind words.

Our families – What is the most important thing to all of our lives.

Each other – Caring deeply and sincerely about our co-workers.

So there you have it, a Christmas conversation that I won’t forget. Thanks, Morgan.